Gang killing female airport employees arrested

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): A four-member gang that killed five female airport employees and their driver in southern Kandahar province has been arrested, an official said on Sunday.

Of the detainees, three were paraded before reporters at the police headquarters in Kandahar City, the provincial capital. They confessed to their crimes.

Kandahar deputy police chief, Brig. Gen. Rahmatullah Atrafi, told Pajhwok Afghan News that police detained the four individuals on Sunday in connection with the killing of four woman employees of the Kandahar Airport.

A fifth person, Sardar Wali, who also was involved in the crime, has managed to escape but police were searching for him, he said.

Atrafi said the men were arrested by detective organs and police forces of 4th police district of Kandahar city.

“These individuals were involved in militant activities under the leadership of a rebel commander in Kandahar City,” the police official said, adding the detainees had confessed to killing the five female employees of Kandahar Airport and their driver.

One of the detainees, Hedayatullah, told Pajhwok that the plot was made by their commander Mubarak Shah and a local prayer leader Taj Mohammad. He said that Taj Mohammad was injured in the incident.

“I and Kuchni Talib were guarding on that day, Taj Mohammad, Sardar Wali and Jumma Khan who had a Kalashnikov and two pistols opened fire at the car and killed five women and their driver,” he said.

He said he had been promised 5,000 afghanis after the attack, but he did not receive the money.

“Taj Mohammad and Sardar Wali were ahead of me and I was following them, Mohammad had a Kalashnikov and I and Wali had pistols, they opened fire at the car first and then I. Then I was taken to a place on motorcycle and I entered a mosque,” he said.

Khan confirmed Taj Mohammad was the Imam of a mosque in the 4th police district and he had been receiving religious education from him.

The women and their driver, who worked in the Kandahar Airport civil terminal, were killed while heading to their duty station from home in Kandahar City on December 17.